JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – MAY 14: Sthembiso Mabalane braves the elements after a cold front on May 14, 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Kabelo Mokoena)
The ‘intense’ cold front currently sweeping across the country has resulted in higher energy usage, power utility Eskom has stated. As a result, it said in a statement on Wednesday evening, electricity demand has increased to it highest level this year.
By Wednesday evening the demand was 2,000MW higher than on Tuesday, with total demand topping 33,000MW.
While some units within the fleet had been brought back online, others had tripped: “Eskom teams (on Wednesday) afternoon managed to return one generation unit at the Tutuka power station.
“This, however, was countered by a generation unit each at the Medupi and Kusile power stations tripping, contributing to the constrained capacity.”
As a result load shedding will continue at stage 2 until 10pm on Wednesday evening. Stage 1 will resume again between 9am and 2pm on Thursday, followed by stage 2 until 10pm.
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